Moscow - The Russian autonomous republic of Chechnya is to open a number of foreign offices to seek to induce Chechen refugees to come home, reports said Tuesday.
The Foreign Ministry in Moscow accepted a motion from Chechen President Ramsan Kadyrov for the measures, the Interfax news agency reported.
According to authorities in the Chechen capital Grozny, Europe is home to more than 100,000 Chechens, most of whom fled the country during the wars there in the 1990s.
The offices are to be opened in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Poland.
The situation in the north Caucasus is still considered unstable, with violence between units loyal to Moscow and rebels increasing in Chechnya and the neighbouring republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia.